U.N. Population Fund helps stabilize world's shaky regions

By PETER H. KOSTMAYER, GUEST COLUMNIST

Published 10:00 pm, Wednesday, June 18, 2003

While the United States focuses its attention on rebuilding Iraq and developing a stable, peaceful and democratic government, we can't forget the plight of half the population -- we can't forget the women.

The war has changed much in Iraq but one fact hasn't: More than 2,000 Iraqi women give birth every day. They need safe, sterile environments in which to deliver their babies. They need skilled birth attendants and quality postnatal care. Many will need emergency obstetric care. But the health care system in Iraq is broken. Health care was inadequate before the war. Now it is nearly non-existent. Women and children are suffering and dying because they can't get needed assistance.

Members of the Bush administration have stated repeatedly that women will not be forgotten in the rebuilding, but many have wondered aloud if they can be trusted to keep their promise. The administration's abysmal record on reproductive health issues, including re-instituting the global gag rule that limits discussion about family planning services (even in countries where all services are legal) and de-funding the United Nations Population Fund, does not give advocates for women's health much hope.

A report titled "Is Population Stability Possible in an Unstable World?" -- just published in Population Connection's Reporter magazine -- shows that Iraq is located in one of the fastest growing and most politically unstable regions of the world.

This area in the Middle East and North Africa is home to more than 390 million people. Some countries in this region have instituted progressive reproductive health care policies, but overall fertility rates in the region remain high and use of contraception is low. In 2001, each woman in Iraq had an average of 5.3 children, and only 10 percent of married women were using modern forms of contraception. Infant mortality rates in Iraq were the highest in the Arab world -- 103 children of 1,000 died within a year of birth.

We need to take a closer look at the exploding population growth in the Middle East-North Africa region. Research has shown that demographics and population are inextricably linked to political instability. When coupled with limited economic opportunities for the future, this instability often leads to political unrest. This type of unrest has an adverse effect on the progress of women and children. Their needs, especially for health care services, quickly become secondary.

To help bring some stability to the region, governments must support comprehensive reproductive health services and education. Time and again this investment has been successful in saving and improving the lives of women and children, slowing the spread of diseases and closing gender gaps. As a result of the investment, population growth is stabilized and rates of poverty also decrease.

The best way to improve conditions is to support the work of the U.N. Population Fund, the world's largest international source of funding for population and reproductive health programs. The fund's work has been successful enough to gain the respect and financial support of every industrialized country in the world, with the lone exception of the United States.

The Bush administration canceled the U.S. contribution to the population fund in 2002 and 2003 because allegations surfaced that it provided assistance to coercive population programs in China. Three fact-finding teams were sent to investigate, including a team handpicked by President Bush, and no evidence of assistance to the coercive programs was found. All three teams recommended that the $34 million, the amount approved by both houses of Congress, be given to the fund. Bush decided unsubstantiated rumors alone were enough to cancel two years' worth of funding.

Even with a $70 million budget shortfall, the population fund continues to try to meet the growing demand for reproductive health services in more than 140 countries around the world. During the Iraq war, it sent indispensable maternal health supplies and personnel to Iraq to care for the needs of women and children. Fund officials would like to continue to provide assistance in the country, but budgetary constraints have forced them to ask the international community for $5 million in emergency donations, a small percentage of the amount the United States has withheld.

Within the next few weeks Congress will have an opportunity to correct the president's bad decision and pass the State Department Authorization Bill for 2004 and 2005, which includes an amendment to provide $50 million in funding to the population fund over two years.

Women in Iraq are counting on us to make sure the president keeps his promise.